In Japan, one in three people is said to suffer from allergic diseases such as atopic dermatitis, bronchial asthma, and allergic rhinitis. Allergic diseases are caused by substances such as mites, pollen, fungi, and pet hairs. Particularly problematic are the allergens from house dust mites, which account for 70% or more of all mites found in rooms (hereinafter, such allergens will be referred to as “mite allergens”). It is said that the body, the dead body, the exuvia, and the feces of house dust mites all can be allergens. Of these, the feces-derived allergens are considered to be most problematic, because these have high allergenic activity, and are very small and are likely to be thrown into air and contact human body.
Because allergens are proteins, the allergenicity can be deactivated by denaturing the proteins through heat or chemical treatments (oxidizing agents, reducing agents, strong acids, strong alkalis). However, the levels of heat, oxidizing agent, reducing agent, strong acid, strong alkali, and other treatments considered safe for home applications are not sufficient for easily denaturing allergens.
As a countermeasure, a method is proposed that chemically denatures an allergen molecule surface under relatively mild conditions. For example, denaturation methods are proposed that use tannic acid (Patent Document 1), tea extracts (Patent Document 2), and hydroxybenzoic compounds or salts thereof (Patent Document 3). Allergen inhibitory effects are confirmed in these methods. An allergen reducing agent is also proposed in which a compound having an aromatic hydroxy compound on the side chains of a linear polymer is used as the active component (Patent Document 4).